St. Cloud Ambulance Funds Halted County Holds Check Until City Signs New Contract

September 15, 1985|By Katherine Long of The Sentinel Staff

ST. CLOUD — The city will not receive a $28,000 check needed to run its ambulance service in October unless city officials agree to sign a contract with the county.

Circuit Court Clerk Mel Wills, who last week ordered that no more checks be sent to the city unless the contract is signed, called it a technicality. ''If they misspent their money, the commissioners and myself would be personally liable,'' Wills said.

County and city officials say the unsigned contract is not a serious obstacle, and working out an agreement by Oct. 1 should not be difficult. However, if nothing is signed by then, the matter could become more serious, Wills said. Options to providing service there are:

-- Kissimmee could provide ambulance service for St. Cloud.

-- St. Cloud could provide the service at its own expense.

-- The eastern part of the county could go without service.

The county funds ambulance service for both Kissimmee and St. Cloud; the two cities run the service. Kissimmee has a signed contract, but St. Cloud officials did not sign the contract when it came up for renewal last year.

City Manager Jim Chisholm said he did not sign the contract because he believed it needed to be updated to include recently passed legislation regulating ambulance operator qualifications. However, he said he did not know the specifics of the law.

He said the city has sent the county a draft of a proposed city agreement. Wills said in the past, ''St. Cloud has spent the money honorably. There's no question of them doing anything wrong.'' He said he decided to withhold funds to encourage St. Cloud to sign a contract.

County commissioner Larry Whaley, who acts as the liaison for ambulance service for the board, said county attorney Neal Bowen is drawing up an interlocal agreement to replace the contract. An interlocal agreement would not have to be renegotiated every year.

However, Whaley said if the agreement is not drawn up by Oct. 1, the city has agreed to sign the current contract.

Whaley said that by approving a budget every year, the county has in effect made a contract with the city. ''Any time we enter into a budget, that's a contract,'' he said.

Last year's budget for the service was $314,491. The city requested $359,298 this year, but county commissioners trimmed it to $345,720.

The city gets a check monthly for 1/12 of its yearly budget to pay for the ambulance service.